Best Australian Political Cartoons 2025

Edited by Russ Radcliffe

$35.00 AUD

Best Australian Political Cartoons 2025

Edited by Russ Radcliffe

Overview

2025: the year in politics as observed by Australia's funniest and most perceptive political cartoonists.

But after seeing the real and unchecked Trump in action, we decided we didn’t want any of that madness here, and the Coalition — more specifically, the Liberal Party — after a decade of negativity and culture warring, got their unambiguous comeuppance. While Teals-style candidates mostly held the line, the Greens took a severe beating as voters retreated into the imagined security of Albo’s one-party state.

If the Trump effect caused tremors in our domestic politics, globally it set off an earthquake. In trade relations, sanctions reduced established relationships with the US — even with long-time allies — to the crudely transactional. In case we had any doubts that the US-led post-1945 rules-based-system was over, 2025 dispelled them. The moral claims of that order, always dubious, were finally — even proudly — cremated in the ruins of Gaza and Ukraine. Forget international law: might has reasserted its traditional place in the ordering of nations.

In this profoundly disordered world, we have never needed the satirical insights of our great political cartoonists more. This year’s collection features Dean Alston, Badiucao, Matt Bissett-Johnson, Peter Broelman, Harry Bruce, Mark David, Chris Downes, First Dog on the Moon, Matt Golding, Megan Herbert, Fiona Katauskas, Mark Knight, Jon Kudelka, Johannes Leak, Glen LeLievre, Alan Moir, David Pope, Geoff Pryor, David Rowe, Phil Somerville, John Spooner, Andrew Weldon, and Cathy Wilcox.

Details

Format
Paperback
Size
200mm x 180mm
Extent
192 pages
ISBN
9781761381676
RRP
AUD$35.00
Pub date
4 November 2025
Rights held
World

Praise

  • The latest instalment of Scribe's annual Christmas bestseller: one of the most enduring and successful series in Australian publishing history.
  • Look back on a year that has included an electoral earthquake, seen through the lens of our brilliant, hilarious, and often naughty political cartoonists as they tackle everything from the historic decimation of the Liberal Party to endless overseas wars.
  • As usual, there will be strong media interest, especially as the author has a unique reputation as editor of political-cartoon titles.

About the Editor

Russ Radcliffe created the annual Best Australian Political Cartoons series in 2003. His other books include: Man of Steel: a cartoon history of the Howard years in 2007; Dirt Files: a decade of Australian political cartoons in 2013; and My Brilliant Career: Malcolm Turnbull, a political life in cartoons in 2016.

Russ has edited collections from some of Australia’s finest political cartoonists, including Matt Golding, Judy Horacek, Bill Leak, Alan Moir, Bruce Petty, John Spooner, and David Rowe, and curated several exhibitions, including Moments of Truth, Dirt Files, and Suppositories of Wisdom. In 2013, Russ was awarded the Australian Cartoonists Association’s Jim Russell Award for his contribution to Australian cartooning.

more about the editor